Online statistical hypothesis test for leak detection in water distribution networks

This paper aims at improving the operation of the water distribution networks (WDN) by developing a leak monitoring framework. To do that, an online statistical hypothesis test based on leak detection is proposed. The developed technique, the so-called exponentially weighted online reduced kernel generalized likelihood ratio test (EW-ORKGLRT), is addressed so that the modeling phase is performed using the reduced kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) model, which is capable of dealing with the higher computational cost. Then the computed model is fed to EW-ORKGLRT chart for leak detection purposes. The proposed approach extends the ORKGLRT method to the one that uses exponential weights for the residuals in the moving window. It might be able to further enhance leak detection performance by detecting small and moderate leaks. The developed method’s main advantages are first dealing with the higher required computational time for detecting leaks and then updating the KPCA model according to the dynamic change of the process. The developed method’s performance is evaluated and compared to the conventional techniques using simulated WDN data. The selected performance criteria are the excellent detection rate, false alarm rate, and CPU time.